dougaphs

I am wanting to receive off-line e-mail notification. I am running Windows XP, Internet Explorer and Outlook 2003. Are there specific settings within MS Outlook 2003 to do this or am I stuck having to be on-line, minimize my e-mail to be informed of incoming e-mail? I'm not a techie when it comes to this, so easy explanations/directions would be great. I have used FireFox and Thunderbird but some applications cannot accommodate this even though I like it. I switched back to Outlook, so switching again is not an option. Thanks in advance